AK-47 and the Ice prince
by Babbling Polly Polliwog
Summary: Ya, ya, I know it's sooo cliche, but yes, it's another Konoha High School fanfic. This one is a pairing of Sasuke with my OC. Anyway, when a new girl comes to Konoha, she is one of the most liked people immediately, but there is a secret that she's hiding. Anyway, please review and share? W00t, 1,059 views and 10 follows! Yesh!, And warning, rated M for future.. lemon..?
1. Chapter 1

It was a typical morning, just before the bell rang at Konoha High School, when a girl with pale blue hair fixed in a messy French twist whizzed through the gates. She was wearing rollerblades, had a pair of headphones around her neck, and a satchel flew out behind her as she careened full-tilt towards the administration building. She wore grey-and-black striped knee socks and a bright green dress with a silver belt cinching it in the middle. Only when she reached the doors did she stop, and then, only just long enough to tug off the skates and put on a pair of sneakers that she dug out of her bag. Then she vanished inside. The students who had been watching her exchanged glances with each other and shrugged, gossiping about the new arrival. Whispers swirled as students settled down at their desks.

"What class do you think she'll be in?"

"Do you think she'll get in trouble for the skates?"

"I wonder where she's from."

"Did you see her clothes? They're so… _eccentric._"

"Did you see her hair? I bet she dyes it. I mean, c'mon, whose hair is that color naturally?"

The last comment was issued by a certain pink-haired Sakura Haruno, directed towards her firend, Ino Yamanaka. In response to this, Ino simply rolled her eyes and giggled, thinking to herself that Sakura was certainly one to talk, seeing as pink hair was just as unnatural as blue. However, she said nothing, because her curiosity was piqued by the new arrival.

"Maybe she'll be really cool," she offered.

"Whatever," said Sakura, rolling her eyes. "Just as long as she stays away from my Sasuke-kun."

Both looked at the boy in question.

"God, I can't believe you're _still _hung up on him."

Sakura pouted.

"Hey, you would be too, if it weren't for Shikamaru!"

Ino shrugged.

"True."

Sakura sighed and flipped her hair.

In a different area of the class, a group of boys was discussing the new arrival.

"Soo, Shikamaru, you weren't too sleepy to see the new addition to our student ranks come speeding through the gates this morning, were you?"

Shikamaru cracked an eye open and gave Kiba a sidelong glance.

"…No. Why?"

Kiba grinned.

"Well, I'd say she's pretty cute, huh? Am I right? Hey, Shikamaru! I'm talking tou you."

The other boys observed Kiba's attempts to get his friend's attention.

"Hey, Naruto," said Neji. "Why haven't you said anything? It's not like you."

The blonde ruffled his hair sheepishly.

"Oh, that's because I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Do you think I should I should ask her if she wants to go have ramen with me?"

Chouji, a rather chubby boy, laughed.

"That is so like you Naruto."

"Oh yeah? Well at least I don't stupidly ask girls if they wanna pig out on barbecued pork with me!"

"Hey!"

"Besides, Naruto," interjected Kiba, "would you really give up on Sakura?"

Naruto blushed.

"Um.. well… if Naruto gave up on her, then possibly I could use my youthful charm to win her over!" piped up Lee.

They all turned at him and styared.

"Seriously bushy-borw?"

"Yeah, seriously?"

"You and Haruno? Not a chance."

Meanwhile, said new arrival who had everyone talking was perched on a chair in the principal's office. Her name was Acacia Takai, and she was a junior. She was turning 17 in a few months. Slightly out of breath, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Across from her, the principal, Iruka, sat down at his desk.

"A pleasure to see you again Miss Takai."

"Thanks. Anyway, so, do I get my schedule and stuff now?"

"Yes, I just want to talk to you a bit. So, you transferred from Kouyuen Academy, correct?"

"Yes."

"I see. And your parents are…"

She lowered her eyes.

"Um, my parents are dead. They.. passed away a couple years ago. I live with my older sister and younger brother."

Iruka's eyes softened.

"I'm so sorry for your loss."

"That's okay," she said quietly.

"So. On a lighter note, do you need any help at all?"

She brightened and smiled sweetly.

"Oh, no, I'm fine. Got the whole map memorized, sensei!"

"Good to hear. Now, here is your schedule-" he pushed a paper across the desk towards her. "And her is your locker assignment. I see you already got your books?"

"That's right, sensei."

"Good. Now, let me write you a late pass, and you go on and head to class, ok?"

She grinned, picking up the papers.

"Ok."

He handed her the pass.

"Here you go."

"Thanks."

Then she left.


	2. Chapter 2

Acacia hurried to her assigned locker, deftly opened the lock, and stuffed her skates and half her books inside before heading to class. It was English, with a Mr... She checked her schedule. Right Kakashi Hatake. She steeled herself and entered the class. The teacher, a grey-haired man, looked up when she walked in. Taking a breath, she walked up to him and handed him her late pass.

"Hi, I'm a new student here. Today is my first day."

She smiled brightly.

He shook her hand.

"Pleased to meet you. Would you mind introducing yourself to the class?"

"Not at all." She turned to face the class and positively beamed. "Hi, everybody. My name is Acacia, and I'm 16, but I'll be 17 in a few months. Anyway, my favorite color is blue, I like tofu plushies, I also love cheese, and I speak French. I hope I can get to be friends with you guys."

The class clapped politely, and she was assigned a seat next an emotionless-looking boy named Sasuke Uchiha. He merely glanced at her and nodded, and she did the same in return. Meanwhile, a jealous-looking Sakura and a curious Ino were scrutinizing her quite conspicuously. If she had been among friends, she would have probably said something along the lines of, "And if you'll look to your left, you can see the elusive bitch and the clueless bimbo in their natural habitat."But as it was she said nothing, and merely flipped open her textbook to the page indicated on the board and started reading, taking notes and annotating.

When the bell rang, Acacia stood up and began packing her things away. When she looked up from her bag, a boy with shaggy brown hair was standing by her desk and grinning at her.

"Hi," he said, as she started walking out. "I'm Kiba. Nice to meet you.. Acacia?"

She smiled.

"Nice to meet you too, Kiba."

They walked down the hall together.

"So, did you just move here recently or what?"

"Yes, I just moved last month. I transferred from Kouyuen Academy," she replied, not making eye contact as she pulled out her schedule and scanned it.

"That's cool, that's cool. So made any friends yet?"

She laughed.

"Not really. I just got here."

He frowned.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Aren't we friends?"

"Oh, um ok, I guess, if you want. Sure!" she said smiling brightly.

"Nice."

"So, who's that pink-haired chick?"

Kiba tousled his hair.

"Oh, that's Sakura Haruno. We're friends, but she's super-possessive of Sasuke. You know, the one you sit next to?"

She raised her eyebrows.

"Ooook.." then she looked up. "Oh hey, here;s my next class. See you later, I guess. Bye!"

"Bye, replied Kiba, watching Acacia walk away. Then he smacked his forehead. "Crap," he muttered. He was going in the complete opposite direction from his next class.

Acacia walked into her calculus classroom and was immediately bombarded by posters with lame math puns, posters of random shape cartoons, and a large Hayao Miyazaki poster on the wall by the teacher's desk. She smiled to herself, having a good feeling about this class. The teacher, Shizune, was a petite woman with a brown bob. She smiled warmly at Acacia and pointed to a seat near the center of the room. Acacia sat down and took out her notebook and textbook, watching the other students who filtered into the room.

A girl with light brown hair in two buns on top of her head smiled at Acacia as she sat down in the desk to her right.

"Hi, I'm Tenten. What's your name?"

"Acacia," the other grinned back.

A boy with long brown hair and light eyes with no pupils sat down at the desk in front of Tenten.

"Hello, love," he greeted her. Then he turned to Acacia. "Acacia, right?"

"Yup."

"Cool. Hey Sasuke," he called out as the boy entered the room taking his seat, which, coincidentally, happened to be right next to Acacia.

Sasuke nodded noncommittally and looked at Acacia, who wiggled her fingers. He just blinked and said nothing.

_Sheesh_, though Acacia, _what's with him?_ She shrugged to herself.

Halfway through the class, Shizune assigned math problems from the textbook to people to present.

"Acacia, sweetie, if you feel comfortable, would you please do question 10?"

Acacia looked it up.

"Sure."

"Thank you."

When it was her turn, she walked up to the blackboard and picked up the chalk.

"Okay, so, this is question 10... Anyway," she glanced at the textbook for the problem, which she actually hadnt attempted before this. "Well, the equation is (x+y)2=12.

"Anyway, we need to differentiate it.. So we expand it so that it's x2+2xy+y2=12.

Anyway, then we take the drivative, so that would be [2x(dx/dx)]+[2x(dy/dx)]+[2y(dx/dx)]+[2y(dy/dx)]=0

"And then: (dy/dx)*(2x+2y)=-2x-2y , which goes to (-2x-2y)/(2x+2y) , and when you reduce, you get.. -1."

She circled the answer. Shizune's eyebrows raised, and then she checked her answer key. She looked up and started to clap.

"Very impressive, Miss Takai, and I saw that you hadn't even looked at it before. Good job. That was the hardest problem on the page."

Acacia grinned and made her way back to her seat.


	3. Chapter 3

Acacia grinned to herself and went back to her seat.  
"Nice job," whispered Tenten, smiling and giving her a high five.  
"Who knew you were a genius!" Neji whispered.  
Acacia blushed slightly.  
"Okay, enough praise already please."  
She sat quietly for the rest of class, smiling to herself. On her way out, Sasuke walked up to her.  
"Nice job," he said simply, and walked away.  
"Uh, thanks...?"  
"What was that about?" asked Tenten, walking up behind her.  
Acacia shrugged.  
"BElated congratulations? Eh, beats me. ANyway, what class do you have next?"  
"Oh, I have art, with Gai-sensei."  
"Really? Me too!"  
They grinned.  
"Be on your guard though," laughed Tenten. "He's a kook."  
"In what way?"  
"Oh, you'll see."  
xxxxxxxx  
Gai-sensei's kookiness, as it turned out, was very kooky indeed, and manifested in the form of him standing over Acacia throughout the entire lesson, exclaiming about her youthful aura and the youthfulness of transfer students. However, when he started trying to drag the youth bit into his explanation of what art was, Acacia got a bit annoyed.  
"Um, Gai-sensei?"  
"Yes, my young transfer student?"  
Inside, Acacia visualized kicking him all over.  
"I thought art was supposed to be about whatever you want it to be. Art is freedom. Not about youth or anything. And an elderly person can do the same kinds of works of art that a younger person can. And also, concepts get reused over and over! Hardly anything is really young, or new. Right?"  
Gai's jaw dropped and Acacia could have sworn that she saw him start to tear up. And then he burst out in applause.  
"THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL! So much youthful, rebellious energy and perspective.. We're going to have a great year!"  
Acacia did a head-desk and rolled her eyes at her newfound friends in the class, Hinata, Shikamaru, Tenten, Naruto, Chouji, and Kiba. Rock Lee, or Bushy-brow, as she thought of him, was not looking however, and was raptly drinking in every word that came out of Gai's mouth. Sasuke looked at her with an odd expression on his face, like a lemon tasting grimace, and she gave him a look. He turned away. Acacia rolled her eyes again and started doodling her friends. They all laughed when they saw themselves drawn like chibi idiots. Then the bell rang, and they packed up their stuff, leaving for their next classes.  
xxxxxxx  
Acacia entered the French class with a cheery attitude until the teacher, a woman with an obvious hangover by the name of Tsunade, told her that she would be expected to give a presentation in French about herself. This wasn't the worst part though. The worst part was that their seats were given in alphabetical order, which meant she was assigned to sit in front of-you guessed it- Sasuke Uchiha.


	4. Chapter 4

Acacia groaned inwardly and took a seat, peeking out around Sasuke to throw an eyeroll at Naruto. He shrugged sympathetically, and then his eyes widened at something behind Acacia. She whipped around and found herself face-to-face with an intensely glaring, red-headed, green-eyed boy. He had a tattoo of the character for love on his forehead. She couldn't understand why, but hey, to each their own, right? She smiled at him.  
"Excuse me? Can I help you?"  
he glared and folded his arms.  
"You're in my seat, girl."  
"Your seat?"  
"Are you deaf or something, bitch? That's my seat."  
Now Acacia was just plain annoyed.  
"First off, my name is not 'bitch,' you teme. My name is Acacia. Secondly, this is my seat, Tsunade-sensei assigned me here. So therefore, I'm concluding that my last name must come after yours, and that you should logically shut your face move up into the empty seat in front of this one. Unless you want to complain to Tsunade, which I'm going to say doesn't seem like a very good idea, considering that she is clearly experiencing a hangover. Just saying. Kay?"  
She smiled sweetly, giving her "I'm-so-totally-innocent-and-everybody-loves-me" look. The boy blinked at her for a minute. Everyone was silent. Acacia smiled wider, showing more teeth, a somewhat creepy expression. And then the boy sat down in front of her without a word, and everybody started talking again. Acacia smirked to herself and turned to give a victory grin to Naruto. Naruto, however, was still sitting stock-still. Acacia shrugged and turned to the front, as the bell had just rang. Tsunade rubbed her temples.  
"Okay, Acacia, presentation, now. Please. And remember class, we do this like an alcoholics anonymous meeting. She says, 'hello, my name is so and so' and then you guys say, 'hello, so and so,' ok?"  
Everybody nodded. As Acacia made her way up to the front, she wore a bemused expression. I wonder if she's referring to Alcoholics Anonymous because she is one, she thought. It certainly seemed plausible.  
"Salut, je m'appelle Acacia."  
"Salut, Acacia," chorused the class, except for Sasuke and the boy who sat in front of Acacia. Oh, and the pinky girl, Sakura.  
"J'ai dix-sept ans, et mon anniversaire est le vingt-cinq Septembre. Ma couleur favorite est bleu, and j'aime le fromage. J'ai une sœur et un frère. Mon frère a cinq ans, et ma sœur a vingt-trois ans. J'aime ecouter à la musique, et j'aime chanter aussi. Le weekend, j'adore dormir et dessiner. J'ai regarder les dessins-animees aussi. J'espere nous sommes amis biens. Merci."  
Everybody clapped politely and Acacia made her way back to her seat. They watched some French videos, and then the bell rang for lunch. Ah, finally, Acacia thought, and she made her way to the cafeteria. Tenten waved at her from a table nearby.  
"Acacia! Over here!"  
Acacia smiled and made her way over, sliding into the bench.  
"Hey. So, what was your last class, and how did it go?"  
"Oh," said Tenten. "I had Chinese just now. The teacher is a total communist. Always saying she doesn't have favorites and then she goes picking favorites anyway. She also has ridiculous views against certain things. And freedom of expression is not allowed."  
"Yeesh," laughed Acacia. "Sounds like she came straight from the Red Guard. Well, at least she's not an alcoholic."  
"Let me guess, Tsunade?"  
"Yup. Good lord, is it legal for her to be teaching in that state?"  
"I guess, or she would have been fired already."  
"Hah, right."  
Naruto, Neji, Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Rock Lee all came and sat down. Sasuke came and sat down too, near the edge of the table. Sakura walked up with a blonde girl who sat next to Shikamaru and kissed him. Sakura attempted to sit right across from Sasuke, but he put his feet up on the bench across from him, so she sat on the other side of the blonde girl.  
"So, Naruto," called out Acacia. "What was with you in French just now? You just totally froze up. Naruto gaped at her.  
"You mean you don't know?"  
Acacia turned to look for the source of the unfamiliar voice. It turned out that was Sakura. She was looking at Acacia with a strange expression.  
"What do you mean, I dont know?"  
"You don't know that Sabaku Gaara is one of the most dangerous people in the entire school? He's so violent.. I can't believe you did that."  
Acacia shrugged.  
"Well, it's simple. I don't take shit from people. And I bet that anyone in this school could be dangerous if they needed to."  
"Not Hinata," laughed Kiba. "She would never hurt anyone."  
"You think so," joked Chouji. For all we know, she could secretly be a serial killer. I mean, it's always the quiet ones, right?"  
They all laughed.  
"But seriously, Acacia, that was pretty cool, the way you just came up with an in your face response like that," said Naruto.  
"Yeah, and you totally nailed the 'Don't-mess-with-me-' warning smile!'" exclaimed Kiba. "Even if it was kinda creepy. You looked like Chucky the clown a bit."  
Acacia grinned widely again.  
"Thanks, I try."  
"Oh, and the way you totally blew Gai away like that by going all deep and philosophical like that was cool too. Too bad he didn't get it though."  
That was the blonde girl.  
"I'm sorry," said Acacia. "I don't know your name."  
"Oh, I'm Ino."  
"Cool. Nice to meet you."  
"You too. We should hang out sometime."  
"Oh, okay. I'll have to get your number or your e-mail though. I have a little bro to take care of. So I have to schedule around stuff."  
"Oh yeah, that's right! What does he look like?"  
"Hang on," said Acacia, pulling out her phone and scrolling through it. "Here he is. His name is Roku. Isn't he adorable?"  
They all crowded around the phone, looking at the picture of the smiling, gap-toothed little boy with Acacia, sitting in her lap.  
"AAAW! he's soooo cute!"  
"Can I have him?"  
"Nope, sorry girls, he's all mine." Acacia laughed. "Oh," she said, checking the time on her phone before putting it away. "It's time for class. Anyone else here have Orochimaru for Science?"  
Kiba and Neji raised their hands.  
"Oh, and Sasuke and Sakura too," said Ino.  
"Okay then. what's he like."  
The four mentioned previusly exchanged glances.  
"... Curious..." said Neji.  
"...Insane..." said Kiba.  
"You'll see." said Sakura, grinning a bit too brightly for Acacia's comfort. She suddenly decided that she was not looking forward to science now.


	5. Chapter 5

Acacia walked with Kiba and Neji towards the science classroom, when she slammed her forehead with her palm.  
"Damnit!" she shouted, scaring them.  
"What is it?" asked Neji.  
"I just remembered, I left half of my stuff in my locker. Crap. I have to go get it. Can one of you tell him I had to get it?"  
Neji shrugged.  
"Sure. Kiba can go with you."  
"Thanks."  
Kiba ran after Acacia as she dashed all the way back to her locker and practically yanked the door off its hinges after unlocking it. Then, even though she was not looking forward to Orcohimaru's class, she trotted back. However, she still got there a few minutes late. She and Kiba shrugged and walked in.  
"Ssstudentsss, you are 10 minutesss late!" hissed a man at the front, who Acacia assumed was Orochimaru.  
Holy crap, thought Acacia. It was like Satan was manifesting himself right then and there. She gulped.  
"Sorry, sensei," she said, smiling sweetly. "I'm new and it's my first day. I accidentally left my stuff in my locker, and Kiba went with me to get it, because I dont know the school well enough to have found my way back here." She grinned as widely as possible, hoping he would believe the lie, because in fact, she had memorized the map of the entire school already.  
Orochimaru looked at her, sizing her up with his eyes. Acacia really wished she could punch him or something. the way he was looking at her made her guess that he was some kind of child predator or something.  
"Dog-boy, you are excused. Go and sit down by sunglasses-boy. As for you," he said, turning to Acacia and stepping into her personal bubble, making her extremely uncomfortable, "Detention. My officccce. After sssschool tonight." He leered.  
"What the hell?!" screeched Acacia.  
"New ssstudentssss must be taught a lesssssson." hissed Orochimaru.  
"Oh, haha, a lesson. Really? C'mon, I think we all know that's just an excuse for rape! I don't think so. Screw your detention. I'm not going. And if you even try anything, I bet I couldget you fired and arrested. So there."  
Orochimaru smiled sleazily.  
"Ohh, feissty. I like that."  
Acacia opened her mouth, ready to cuss him out, but he interrupted her.  
"Go and sssit down by Sssasssuke. You are excusssed for being late." He said, obviously her defiant and intimidating demeanor.  
Acacia smirked, before realizing what name he just said. Damn, she thought, and looked for any other possible place to sit. However, there was none, so she sighed and took her seat beside Sasuke.  
Just then, a student aide walked in.  
"Excuse,me, sir... I have a note from Iruka-sensei that he needs to see you right away.."  
Orochimaru leered again.  
"OF course. Let me go with you."  
The class shuddered collectively, wondering at the horrors that awaited the boy.  
"Hey, Takai, stay away from MY Sasuke-kun," said an annoyingly familiar voice.  
Acacia sighed and looked up. It was Sakura. Acacia smiled apologetically.  
"Sorry, but, there's nowhere else to sit."  
"Then switch with me!"  
"FIIIIIINE. Geez."  
Acacia looked to where Sakura's seat was. She saw Kiba there. Okay maybe it wasnt that bad. She stood up, grabbed her satchel, and started walking, but she realized her bag was caught on something. She turned and looked. It was a hand.  
Sasuke had grabbed her bag and held her back. Yet, he wassnt looking at her, but just staring blankly ahead.  
"What the heck?"  
"Don't move," he said tonelessly.  
"But your girlfriend is going to sit here," Acacia replied.  
Sasuke glared at her.  
"She is NOT my girlfriend," he said angrily.  
"Not yet, anyway," said Sakura.  
Acacia rolled her eyes.  
"Not ever. Now get away from me. I don't want to sit by you."  
Sakura's eyes widened and she burst into tears. Acacia guessed Sasuke must really hate Sakura. She sighed and sat back down.  
"Um, you can let go of my bag now, Sasuke..."  
Sasuke let go and blushed slightly then bowed his head, his bangs hiding his face.  
At that moment Orochimaru came back into the classroom, looking rather put out. Whatever Iruka had said to him, he hadn't liked it. He was clearly pisssssssed.  
"For homework I expect you all to do Notes on sections 5, 6, 7, and 8, and answer all the questions, and then write essays about all you read." He called out.  
Many people hissed and groaned.  
"If anyone doesss not complete thisss, they will have detention with me." he continued, smirking.  
Acacia glared at him.  
Luckily, the bell rang then. It was afternoon break. She sighed with relief and left with Kiba and Neji.


	6. Chapter 6

"So," said Kiba, grinning. "That was pretty impressive, Acacia. You know what? We should give you a nickname. How about Aca?"

Acacia frowned.

"Any references to acapella singing, which I do love sometimes, and I will kill you." She thought for a moment. "Just call me AK-47."

"AK-47?"

"Yeah. It's what my friends from before called me, because I was always so quick on the uptake and always had good comebacks, Plus, AK is like my name. You can also call me AK for short."

Kiba laughed.

"AK-47 it is."

They went up to the roof to hang out for afternoon break. Acacia pulled out her headphones and lay back, bobbing her head to "Et Alors" by Shy'm. All too soon, however, the break was over, and Acacia, Naruto, and Kiba went to history.

xxxxx

History turned out to be a boring recap of everything Acacia had covered at her last school, so she was able to zone out and read _The Lord of the Rings_ covertly under her desk. When the last bell rang, she stood up, stretched, and leisurely walked to her locker to grab her skates. She shut her locker and started walking out.

"Hey AK," called out Ino. "Where ya going?"

"Hi Ino," Acacia smiled. "I need to pick up my little brother from nursery school."

"Youkou?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'll give you a ride. I have to pick up this one kid I babysit from there, so its no problem."

"Ok thanks."

xxxxxxx

When Acacia and Ino climbed out of the car, a little boy with brown hair came speeding toward her and slamme dinto her, knocking the wind out of her.

"Oof," she said, then picked him up and planted a big kiss on his head. "Hey there, otouto," she teased in a singsong voice, ruffling his hair. "Say hi to Ino-san!"

He gave Ino a peck on the cheek and blinked, smiling, but said nothing. Ino guessed he must be shy, but she ruffled his hair too.

A bratty looking boy of about 5 ran up to Ino and started yanking at her arm.

"Hey, ajuma, let's go!"

Acacia raised an eyebrow at Ino.

"He just called you an old lady he."

"Did he?"

"Yeah, in Korean."

Ino glared at him and huffed.

"Thanks for telling me. He's such a brat. Anyway, yeah, he's Korean. Do you speak it?"

Acacia shrugged.

"Only a little. See ya tomorrow!"

And she and her little brother skipped off.

xxxxx

Acacia played with Roku when they got home, then started working on most of the homework that the bastard Orochimaru had assigned. After that, they ate dinner, and she gave Roku a bath and put him to bed. She returned downstairs to finish doing her homework. At around 9:30 PM, a slender girl with shoulder-length dark brown hair and gmlimmering amber eyes like Acacia's entered the house.

"Hey there, imoto. How was school? DId you make any new friends?"

Acacia grinned at her sister, Kari.

"Hey, ane. Yeah, school's actually kinda fun. Silly, but fun. A bit weird, but fun. I actually made quite a few friends today. It was easier than I thought."

Kari smiled, glad to hear that her sister finally seemed to be recovering from past events.

"Okay, I'm going to bed. Are you going to be done with your homework soon?"

"Yup, just this last paragraph, and then I'm gonna take a bath and get to bed too. G'night, Ane."

"Good nigth. Oh, and remember, you have to take Roku to therapy tomorrow, okay."

"Got it."

"Sweet dreams, Imoto."

"You too."

xxxxx

Regrettably, Acacia couldn't fall asleep, so she just flopped back and forth, and lay there on her bed, thinking. Her train of thought was interrupted, however, when Roku slipped into her bedroom, looking scared and clutching his stuffed panda, Mochi. She sighed, and opened her arms. He clambered up onto her bed and burrowed as close to her as he could.

"Another nightmare, Ototo?" she whispered. She felt him nod. "It's ok, its ok," she muttered, stroking his hair. She knew exactly how he felt. _She_ still had nightmares too, and the occasional stabbing phantom pain in her back whenever she thought of... _that night_. She rocked him back and forth, humming a lullabye. when he finally fell asleep, she set him down on the other side of the bed and tucked hi in, and then went to sleep herself.


	7. Chapter 7

Acacia woke up bright and early the next morning. Mina was already gone, so she busied herself making breakfast, which was tea and porridge. By the time she had set the bowls on the kitchen table, Roku had woken up and come downstairs.  
"Hey there, mime child, come have some porridge!"  
He grinned and grabbed her legs. She picked him up and gave him a kiss, and then sat him at the table. She, meanwhile, gulped down her porridge and made onigiri for lunch, packing it into two bento boxes. Then she took her little brother upstairs to get him dressed.  
Half an hour later, Acacia was strapping a little helmet on Roku's head and buckling him into the child seat on her Vespa, while she herself put on a bigger helmet. After stowing her bag in the seat and pulling on a jacket she grinned.  
"Ok, Roku, let's go."  
xxxxxxxxxx  
Acacia dropped Roku off, kissed him goodbye, and handed him his things.  
"Have fun, sweetie."  
Then she was off again, to school. She pulled into the parking lot and found a spot. After grabbing her things, she locked the scooter up and waved at Ino, who had just gotten out of her car.  
"Nice ride," Ino called out, grinning.  
Then Kiba pulled up riding a moped, and Acacia cracked up. He chained it to her Vespa, and they went inside. They walked to English together. Kakashi was sitting with his feet up on his desk, reading a lewd book. _Well_, thought Acacia,_ as long as he's not like Orochimaru._  
"I-I like your outfit, Acacia-san," said Hinata.  
"Oh thanks," replied Acacia, looking down at her orange t-shirt emblazoned with a tofu, navy blue leather jacket, light blue stressed skinny jeans, and orange flats.  
"Yeah, looks like you toned it down today," said Kiba.  
She smiled.  
"I always like to make a lasting first impression."  
Kiba waved as Naruto walked into the room, wearing a blue hoodie, orange ramen t-shirt, and baggy jeans. Naruto and Acacia stared at each other and burst out laughing.  
"Dude!"  
They high-fived.  
"Dude, we're like, twins!" exclaimed Naruto.  
Acacia grinned.  
"Yeah, well, except for the hair and eyes, but, yeah! We is twinses!"  
They fist-bumped. Everybody else laughed.  
Then the rest of the people showed up, the bell rang, and they all sat down. Sasuke got into his desk next to Acacia, and looked back and forth between Acacia and Naruto. Acacia winked and stuck her tongue out at him, unaware of the way his eyes zeroed in on it.  
Kakashi took attendance and announced that they would be investigating literary devices in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death."  
"Does anybody want to volunteer to read? Anyone?"  
Everyone looked at each other. It was clear Kakashi didn't want to read to them, but nobody volunteered. Acacia raised her hand.  
"Ok, new girl. Go."  
Acacia gave a sidelong glance at Sasuke, and then she started on the third paragraph.  
"It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. There were seven-an imperial suite. In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case is very different; as might have been expected from the duke's love of the _bizarre_. The apartments..."

And she read on, her voice captivating and entrancing, and the whole class followed along, enthralled.

"It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound; And thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before."  
She looked up. Everyone seemed to be in a trance. she coughed slightly, and Kakashi blinked.  
"Now see, students? This is what a truly descriptive and enriched story does to you. It transports you to another place."  
"Just like those books you're always reading, sensei?" asked Naruto, grinning.  
Kakashi opened his mouth to say something when the bell rang.  
"Class dismissed."


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto's antics in English sent his friends into fits of laughter afterwards, on the way to PE. Acacia wiped a tear from her eye, laughing, as she went with the other girls to the locker room.

"Is he always like that?!" she gasped at Tenten.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Haha. We are definitely going to be good friends then."

Ino pulled a bundle of clothes out of her bag, handing them to Acacia.

"Here, it's a PE uniform. I picked it up for you. I'm pretty sure it'sd in your size, Acacia."

"Oh cool, thanks, Ino."

Acacia surveyed the red spandex-y short-shorts and the grey t-shirt with Konoha High printed on the front, with a leaf emblem across it. She glanced across at the other girls, saw them putting their uniforms on, and shrugged. _I guess this school really doesn't care how we look then._ She tied her hair in a ponytail and left the locker room.

The P.E. teacher, Jiraiya-sensei, was a straightforward _perv_. he was reading a porno magazine and leered at some of the girls coming out of the locker room. However, when he looked Acacia's way, she gave him a hard glare, and he turned away. _Hmph. _Tenten and Ino, with Hinata and Sakura following, joined her seconds later as she sat on the floor and started stretching.

"Yo Ino!"

"What's up Acacia?"

"What is it with these teachers and their obvious.. 'character flaws'?"

"Weeeell.. teachers are limited, so... they take who they can get. Besides, he's.. not so bad, once you get used to him."

She shrugged and grinned apologetically.

Acacia smiled.

"Got it."

Just then, the boys came out of their locker room and Jiraiya blew his whistle and called roll.

"All, right, you lazy asses! Find something physically educational to do and don't bother me! Got it?"

There came in response a measly chorus of "yes," and then everybody fanned out and started doing their own things. Acacia picked up a basketball and started dribbling, doing some tricks occasionally, as some of her friends watched. After she got warmed up, she started doing layups. Heads turned as _swish, thunk, swish, thunk, swish, thunk,_ she sank several baskets in a row. After the fifteenth _swish,_ there was no _thunk_. A grinning Naruto stood holding the ball.

"How about a little one-on-one?"

People collectively "ohhhed" as Acacia raised her eyebrows and looked at him.

"Sure. Why not?"

She smirked. He tossed her the ball, and she dribbled up the court away from him. He ran after her as fast as he could, but he couldn't make it. She dunked the ball through the hoop and let it bounce towards Naruto, who grabbed it.

"Haha, my turn!"

He sped away down the court to the other end. But Acacia was fast. Deadly fast. In no time at all, she was there, and just as Naruto threw the ball...

She ran and jumped at least 3 and a half feet in the air and caught it.

"Ha. I win."

Naruto was shocked.

Acacia continued to play several more games of basketball throughout the entire period, but she didn't notice one boy in particular who didn't play at all. All the time he was watching her, admiring her physique and agility, this new girl from out of town, who was so strange but so enchanting. And he couldn't get enough, and stared until the bell rang.

Afterwards, Acacia ran up to him.

"Yo, Sasuke, why didn't you join in at all?"

Sasuke looked at her, found that he could say nothing, shrugged, and walked away, leaving Acacia rolling her eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

After such an invigorating PE class, Acacia found herself bored to death in History next hour. Having forgotten to bring a book with her to school this morning, she was forced to sit and listen to Kabuto-sensei, (a middle-aged man with graying hair and Harry Potter glasses that would have been interesting if he was cooler), as he droned on and on for an hour and fifteen minutes about the importance of history. Acacia sighed continuously to herself and quietly beat her head against her textbook. About halfway through, she started looking around at other people. Some, like Rock Lee, were studiously taking down notes. Shikamaru was sleeping, and Kiba was apparently making spitballs.

Acacia caught Naruto's eye and rolled her eyes at him. He smirked and held up an extremely crappy picture of the teacher, and started mimicking him silently. Acacia rolled her eyes again and swiveled around. As she did, she noticed Sasuke gazing intently at her, seemingly dazed. She raised an eyebrow, and he seemed to snap out of it, as he quickly turned back around again, hunching over his notes. Acacia sighed and resumed doodling idly, occasionally scribbling down some characters and then resuming her doodling. When the bell rang, she got up and stretched, then grabbed her bag and walked out, with a final look at Sasuke's desk, which had already been vacated. She shrugged.

Calculus next hour was just the thing to make Acacia feel more up to scratch again. Numbers always made her feel better. There were no countless possibilities, no boring extraneous details, no limitless amounts of notes. Just cool, clear-cut fact. No having to worry about something that had already happened repeating itself, like in history. Numbers were nice. Sure, Calculus was sometimes sadistic, but usually, everything was cool.

As expected, Shizune had Acacia do more problems on the board with derivatives for the class. Acacia was feeling pretty accomplished. Later on, Shizune split them all up into groups to do work. Acacia was happily paired with Tenten and Neji, and they were working diligently when Neji looked up, noticed something, and nudged Tenten. She also looked up, and the two of them looked at each other and chuckled, looking at Acacia. She looked up at them, frowning slightly.

"What?"

Neji jerked his head somewhat to indicate that she look. She turned around, only to see Sasuke staring at her again. This time, when he saw her, he visibly blushed and his face twisted a bit, and then he whipped around, suddenly becoming very interested in the math work.

"Wow," said Neji in an undertone, laughing. "I had no idea that Sasuke actually liked anybody."

"Scratch that," said Tenten, "I didn't even know the Ice Prince could be embarrassed!"

Acacia shrugged.

"Who knows."

"Guess you made a pretty big impression on him, huh?"

"I.. guess?"

Acacia spent the last part of the class in thoughtful concentration.

* * *

Sasuke was mentally cursing at himself._Crap, that's like, what, three times already? Maybe four? Why can't I stop doing that?! Why does this keep happening? I need..._A thought about Acacia was already forming in his mind. _I need to.. stop... thinking about her.. This needs to stop happening.._and yet, a picture of pale blue hair was already forming in his mind again.

* * *

Acacia, meanwhile, walked slowly down the hallway to lunch, also thinking about things._Wow. they think he likes me? _Not _possible. Right? _She considered it. _I mean, from what I gather, he doesn't like any girls.. Well, not that I think he's homo, because he doesn't strike me as the type, but. I mean, from what I gather, he just finds girls annoying.. hmm... I embarrassed _him?_He doesn't even look like he can be... And.. what if he does like me? That's curious, I mean, I couldn't have made _that _big of an impression, could I?_And she just walked in pensive silence.

However, Acacia was wrong. She definitely had made an impression, that much was obvious from the number of heads that turned as she walked by, and the number of guys zeroing in on her backside. Truth be told, several people in the school were crushing on her right now, she just didn't realize it.

The tinny sound of "I Am the Best" by 2NE1, her ringtone, snapped her back to attention. Fumblingly, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, zeroed in on it, and answered.

"Hello?" A few moments of silence. "Holy shi- Okay, I'll be right there."

She hung up, stuffed her phone back in her pocket, and sprinted away down the hallway, running blindly until,_SMACK!_She collided and fell on top of a very flustered...


	10. Chapter 10

"SASUKE?! Shit!" Acacia looked down at the boy she had collided with, who was now nose to nose with her. "Um… sorry..."

In the moment of awkward shock, she didn't even think to get up, aside from sitting. Sasuke blinked up at her, his cheeks a very pale pink.

"…It's.. alright…" Sasuke turned his head to the side slightly , trying to ignore the fact that she was sitting on a somewhat… _sensitive _region.. "But.. do you mind.. um.. getting off of me….."

She blinked.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

She stood up, holding out her hand to pull him up. Inwardly, Sasuke sighed with relief. Had she still been sitting there a minute later… well... he _probably _shouldn't think about that. He brushed himself off, and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"So... what was... all that… about…?"

"Huh?" she slapped her forehead with her palm. "Oh, crap! I got a call from my little brother's daycare. He apparently had a… meltdown...?" she trailed off awkwardly, scanning her pockets. "Anyway, I need to go there right now, and—shit! I can't find my keys! Crap, I think they're in my locker."

Sasuke realized that she was really freaking out right now, and followed her as she started to her locker.

"Oh, no, I don't have time for that, I need to go right now! But— how..?"

Sasuke coughed again.

"Umm… I could... drive you…"

She whipped around.

"Would you?"

".. Um, yeah, sure…"

"Ehmegerd, _thank you_ so much!"

She flung her arms around him.

"Oh. Um, sorry."

"No... problem. Um, my car's this way…"

"Okay cool."

And they awkwardly walked out to his car.

* * *

When Sasuke drove up to the daycare, Acacia literally leaped out of the car and sprinted inside. Sasuke parked, and then followed, more slowly. Walking inside, he saw Acacia go through a door off to the side by the secretary's desk. She looked up at him.

"Can I help yopu, young man?"

"Um.. That's my friend who just went…. Um.."

The secretary semmed to understand.

"Okay, go on back."

He nodded briskly and went through.

Acacia crouched by a little boy in a corner who was crying and looking positively scared to death, her arms around him protectively. She patted his head and hugged him tight, whispering softly and comfortingly.

"Sh... otouto… shh… it's okay, Onee-chan's here now, it's okay… She can't hurt you now.. I promise.. She can't..."

Slowly, the boy quieted. Acacia hugged him tight, then turned around and looked at Sasuke. "thank you" she mouthed. She returned to cuddling the boy until he was fine, and then she patted his cheek and he gave her a small smile. Sasuke wondered to himself who "she" was, but decided not to say anything.

"Okay, there, little guy?"

He nodded and looked up at Sasuke shyly and curiously.

"This is Sasuke, Roku, he's my friend. Say hi."

The little boy just smiled up at Sasuke, and then gave him a hug. Sasuke blushed. Acacia straightened up.

"Okay then. So I guess everything's alright now." She looked at Roku. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

He smiled weakly, and she hugged him again, then led him out to the secretary, who smiled.

"It's ok miss, I'll take him back."

"Thank you."

* * *

The car ride back was quiet. Sasuke glanced over at Acacia. She seemed subdued, and was staring off at the scenery. Sasuke glanced at the clock on his dashboard. They would be a few minutes late. Normally, that wouldn't bother him, but seeing as they had Science after lunch, he wasn't thrilled at the prospect. In a few minutes, they reached the school. He parked and they got out. Sasuke followed Acacia to her locker, and then walked with her as they made their way to Science. Outside the door, Acacia hesitated.

"Um... thanks, Sasuke. That was really nice of you... especially with me being new and all..."

"No problem..."

She smiled at him, and once again, he was enchanted. Then she turned away and opened the door to the classroom and walked in, with him close at her heels.


	11. Chapter 11

The minute Acacia stepped into class late, for the second day in a row, Orochimaru jumped at the chance to punish her for insolence the day before.

"Hmmm. You are exactly three minutessss late, Missss Takai." He hissed perversely. "I believe I already explained my attendance policiessss with you yesssterday. Detention after sssschool today." His eyes widened and then brightened as Sasuke made his way into the classroom. "Ahhh, you too, Misssster Uchiha? My, my, very interesssting.." He licked his lips with his obscenely long tongue. "Very well. Detention for both of you. You will be cleaning out the ssssscience ssstoreroomssss. Isss thisss clear?"

Acacia sighed and shrugged, then nodded, much to the surprise of Sasuke and the others, who had fully expected her to make some kind of retort. Of course, Sasuke had an idea of why that was, but he didn't show it.

"Very well. To your seatssss then."

They obeyed and sat down. Sakura glared daggers at Acacia, probably assuming that something she really didn't like to think about had happened and caused Sasuke and Acacia to be late. Acacia slumped in her seat and doodled for the rest of class.

* * *

As the bell rang for afternoon break, Acacia ran up to Ino.

"Hey, Ino, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Oh, sure no problem."

"I was supposed to take Roku to therapy today, but I'm obviously not going to be able to because of that bastard-" she jerked her head, at the receding science classroom door. "So, would you be a friend and take him for me?"

Ino smiled sympathetically.

"Sure, honey. Where's his therapy at?"

"I'll text you the address. If it takes me a long time, can I pick him up?"

"No problem, Acacia."

"Ohmigod, thank you so much Ino."

"You're very welcome."

The girls smiled at each other and walked their separate ways.

* * *

Acacia called Mina during break to let her know about the situation. As Mina was away on business, there would be nobody at home.

"Oh, AK, detention already. Well, at least it wasn't your fault. Are you sure you can trust this girl?"

"Yeah. She's great."

"Ok, cool. Well good luck, Imoto."

"Thanks."

* * *

Acacia and Sasuke walked awkwardly and reluctantly towards Orochimaru's classroom after French. As they waited at the door, Acacia looked at him.

"So... you ready for detention?" she asked in a falsely cheery voice.

He looked at her and shrugged.

"Right."

Orochimaru came out of his classroom right then, and grinned evilly at them.

"Very good. Well then, if you will follow me, you... misscreantss…" He led them down the hallway and unlocked the door to a large storeroom. "You two will be locked in here until you clean everything."

Acacia gaped at him.

"How the hell are we supposed to get out when we're done?! Besides, isn't that cruel ad unusual punishment?"

Orochimaru grinned wider.

"Not in my booksssss… now… I will give you two my phone number, sssso that you can call when you are done... Well, if that'sss all," he shut the door and locked it, with a foreboding _thud _and _click, _plunging Acacia and Sasuke into total darkness. "Have fun, ssstudentssss."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ino was picking Roku up and taking him to therapy. Graciously, the other boy had been sick today, so Roku was her only charge. Ino glanced back at Roku from time to time in the rearview mirror. He seemed alright, very quiet and smiling slightly whenever she looked at him. _Why does he need therapy?_ she wondered. _He seems like a happy kid. Sure, he's quiet, but.. maybe he's shy? Hm, I don't know. I don't want to pry, but, I'm kind of curious._

Eventually, she reached the place where Roku's therapist was at.

"Dr. Minamoto M.D., PhD, child psychologist... Well, little guy, this is it."

She unbuckled Roku and helped him out. Her phone buzzed with a text from Acacia. _Change of plans Ino, IDK when I'm getting out of here. if worst comes to worst, could you take Roku to school tomorrow? thanks. Btw, he has.. nightmares sometimes. Just give him a cuddle, and he'll be fine. Thanks._ Ino smiled at Roku.

"Ok, guess you're staying with me tonight little guy. Okay?" he nodded at her. "Good."

They entered the building, and Ino introduced herself to the doctor,who raised her eyebrows but said nothing, then led Roku away into another room. Ino settled back and started doing homework.


	12. Chapter 12

Acacia and Sasuke stood there awkwardly in the dark for a minute. Then there was a shuffling sound, followed by a thud and a crash.

"Ow! What the hell, Sasuke?!" Acacia's phone lit up in his face. "Are you trying to make a pass at me or something?"

"Lights." He replied simply.

"Oh.." Acacia blushed. "So... sorry."

He just stared at her.

"You do realize that I didn't accuse you of trying to make a pass at me earlier today when you slammed into me and knocked me over, right?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. it's just... dark... and I'm.. ahh... flustered..?"

He sighed and climbed off of her, then proceeded to grope around the walls for a light switch, which he flipped on. Acacia levered herself off the floor and stretched.

"Ach.. my back."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine.." her eyes roved over the expanse of storeroom. "Sacre bleu, this place is a mess! Ugh. It's going to take _ages _to clean this up. Well, I guess our first goal should be to find some cleaning supplies. Let's split up, okay?"

Sasuke shugged.

"Sure."

"Cool."

Fifteen minutes found them a mop, some brooms and dustpans, some old rags, rat poison, insecticide, and cleaning solution.

"Well, where should we start?" She looked at Sasuke.

"Um... Maybe the floor first?"

Acacia sighed.

"You've never cleaned anything at all, have you? Typical. I think we should start with the shelves and all, you know, get them organized, get the chemicals and shit labelled, and stuff, kill the bugs, etc. Then we clean the floors and all. Got it?"

"Uh yeah."

Sasuke was secretly admiring the way Acacia so easily took charge of the situation. He followed her instructions obediently. Together, they worked for a few hours, fixing labels on chemicals, organizing them alphabetically, wiping down shelves, and knocking down spiderwebs.

Acacia finally collapsed near the door.

"Ugh, I need a break." She dug through her satchel and pulled out a waterbottle, examining it. "Crap. Empty." She groaned and looked at Sasuke who had sat down quietly across from her. "Do you have any water?"

"No, sorry."

She sighed dramatically.

"This is freaking great. We are probably going to die down here of chemical fumes and dehydration, and then they'll have to drag our bodies out of here. Well, I guess it _would _get that Orochimaru bastard fired. Even so, I refuse to give up. i will search for water in this godforsaken storeroom if it's the last thing I do. Help me?"

"Sure."

In about ten minutes, they had come up with only distilled water that was used for experiments. However, Sasuke had found an interesting looking metal box. Acacia eyed it warily.

"What the hell is that?"

He shrugged.

"You wanna find out?"

* * *

Ino stood up as the doctor led Roku back out to the waiting room.

"Okay, he's all set to go."

"Thanks, Dr..."

"Minamoto."

"Oh yeah, right."

"If you don't mind me asking, where is Acacia? She usually brings Roku. Either her or her sister."

Ino smiled sheepishly.

"Well, Acacia got detention, and her sister's out of town for business, I think. She asked me to take care of Roku. I'm her friend, Ino Yamanaka. Um, if you don't mind me asking..."

"Yes?"

"Why does Roku need therapy?"

Dr. Minamoto sighed.

"Wel... that's.. it's.. complicated... And I can't really give you details... but... Roku has gone selectively mute. You see, this usually doesn't happen unless a child has gone through intense trauma, and play therapy is often a nice way to try to calm children down and get them more used to life again."

"So... Roku's been through intense trauma...?"

"Yes, but.. i'm afraid I can't tell you anymore than that. You'll have to talk to Acacia or Mina about it. And they don't like talking about it that much, so... Good luck. Your best bet would be to forget about it."

"Okay.. Well, thank you anyway."

"No problem, Miss Yamanaka. It's nice to see Acacia making good friends, especially one's that Roku seems to trust. Good progress, that."

"Okay.. Well, I'd... better get going now, I guess. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Ibo left, holding Roku's hand in a somewhat distracted manner. As she drove home, a thousand question were pressing on her mind. _I guess Acacia has a lot of things she keeps quiet about then.. Hmm..._


	13. Chapter 13

Acacia and Sasuke looked at each other.

"You open it."

"Ladies first, correct?"

"Ha, you found it, you open it."

Sasuke sighed.

"Fine."

There was a creak as the box lid swung open.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Acacia stared at the contents of the box, eyes wide, as did Sasuke.

"Well, I bet I know who this belongs to."

"No shit, Sherlock, but why would he want us to clean the storeroom if he had this in here?"

Sasuke looked thoughtful.

"Hm.. I don't know... but.."

"But what?"

"We could use these.."

"How?"

He looked at Acacia, and a sly half-grin spread across his face.

"Leverage."

She stared back at him and grinned.

"I like the way you think."

They bundled up the box with their belongings, then went back to cleaning for about half an hour, during which Acacia started yawning incessantly.

"God, I'm so tired."

"Go ahead and take a break."

"Seriously?"

"Sure, I can get this stuff cleaned up."

"Oh, wo-o-o-o-o-w, thanks, Sasuke."

Without further ado, Acacia curled up in a ball with her bag and went to sleep. Sasuke gazed tenderly at her for a moment, then went back to cleaning. When he'd finished an hour later, he sat down by the sleeping girl and sighed, leaning back against the wall. Acacia squirmed closer to him, like a cold puppy searching for the warm body heat of its mother. Sasuke looked down at her face and saw that she was troubled. She was muttering quietly and seemed in the throes of a nightmare.

"No, please, no, don't do it.. please... STOP IT!"

She screamed this last part. Sasuke was a bit shocked, but he quickly recovered, scooting a little closer to Acacia and awkwardly patting her on the back.

"Sh... it's alright," he whispered somewhat awkwardly, and she seemed to relax. When she was finally sleeping again he got up carefully.

_I gotta get out of here_, he thought. _She needs to sleep somewhere comfortable, and I want to go home, and there's no way I'm calling that bastard..._ He suddenly had a light bulb moment.

Very quietly, so as not to disturb Acacia, he walked down the aisles of the storeroom looking for something. _Aha_, he thought victoriously when he found it. He tiptoed back to the door and stuck the tools in the lock, and after a bit of fiddling, had unlocked the door. _Great_. He swung his and Acacia's satchels over his shoulder and shoved the box in one of them. Then stooping, and ever so carefully he lifted Acacia off the ground and carried her out of the storeroom.

As he fumbled with the lock on the door, she snuggled into him, and he couldn't help blushing slightly, feeling warmth spread through his veins. He slipped out of the school, Acacia in his arms, and carried her to his car. He justified his actions in his mind. _She's in no condition to be driving tonight anyway. It's for her own good..._

He tossed their bags in the car and started driving home.

* * *

Acacia awoke in an unfamiliar bed at about 5 AM in the morning. She groaned and blinked, taking inventory of her surroundings. The walls were a navy blue color, and bare of any posters. There was a spartan dresser and nightstand, and sleek, modern furnishings. on top of the dresser, there was one photograph, but she couldn't see it very clearly. She looked down at her body and noticed that she was no longer wearing her jacket and jeans and t-shirt, and all the clothes she wore to school, but rather a simple t-shirt and cheer shorts. She was somewhat disturbed by this.

_Ugh, where the hell am I? _ she wondered. She turned her head to see the rest of the room and nearly had a heart attack. Sleeping right next to her, shirt off, sheets wrapped loosely around him, his black hair tousled from sleep and his pale skin gleaming, was none other than...

"SASUKE?! WHAT THE HELL?!"


	14. Chapter 14

Sasuke was dreaming pleasantly about being with Acacia and some other things that would probably be better left unsaid for now. She was talking to him, and he was listening to her chatter, when it became a keening shriek.  
"Sasuke, you f***ing bastard, wake up!"  
"Ughh, fivemoreminutesh," he grumbled into his pillow.  
"No. Now."  
Her voice was so serious, so deadly, that he woke up instantly. _Oh shit, that's right…_ He blinked up at her.  
"Uh, hi?"  
Acacia was glaring at him, her face a mask of fury.  
"What. The. Hell. Did. You. Do. To. Me. Last. Night."  
"N-n-nothing, I swear!"  
She scoffed.  
"Yeah. Right. And that's why my clothes are gone."  
"They're not gone, they're right there!"  
He pointed to a corner where their bags were at.  
"Hmph."  
She climbed out of the bed and undressed, then pulled yesterday's clothes on, not without much blushing from Sasuke.  
"What? Did you blush when you switched my clothes last night?"  
"I.. uh.. well that was different."  
"Hmph." She went over to his mirrored closet door and fixed her hair. "Listen, I need you to drive me home right now so I can get some new clothes, okay? And you can explain everything that happened on the way. Got it?"  
"Got it."

* * *

Later in the car, Acacia stared at Sasuke.  
"So. What happened last night, teme?"  
Sasuke groaned inwardly, realizing that pissed-Acacia was very much like an everyday Naruto, who could be very annoying. Y'know, except, that Acacia was... a girl. And prettier. And much more attractive. And— He should probably stop.  
"Look, you dope, you fell asleep, so I finished cleaning, and at that time, I realized it would dangerous for you to be riding your Vespa at night in your condition, so I picked you up and drove you to my house, so you could crash there. My mom was the one who changed your clothes, not me. So, actually, this morning was the first time I ever saw you all…" He blushed. "Anyway, I just slept in the same bed you did, that was all. I didn't rape you (_although it might have been nice, he thought)_, and nothing bad happened, okay?"  
She huffed.  
"Fine. Make a left here. Then go up two blocks and turn right."  
They stopped outside of a modest two-story house with white stucco walls, and flowerboxes in the windows.  
"You can come in if you want."  
Sasuke followed awkwardly as Acacia dug for a spare key and unlocked the door, then bounced upstairs. Pretty soon, he heard the sound of water running. He flopped, gentlemanly, onto a sofa and glanced around. The décor was quaint, with a few hints of modern and old style Japanese mixed in. There was knickknack shelf with a set of Russian Matryoshka dolls* on it. There was also a photograph of Acacia, Roku, and a girl he presumed was her older sister. He surveyed some of the other photographs. One in particular caught his eye.  
The picture had Acacia, her older sister, a 3 year old Roku, their parents, and another girl. But the head of this girl was missing. _Why?_ Sasuke thought to himself. He picked up the photo and stared at it. _That's strange,_ he thought.. he searched for more signs of the girl throughout photographs in the house on the bottom floor, but could find none. _Hmmm..._  
He heard the water turn off, and about ten minutes later, Acacia popped downstairs, wearing a Big Bang* t-shirt and black leggings, her hair wet and tangled. She gave Sasuke a curious look as he stared into space, dazed, thinking about the photograph. She shrugged and opened a door under the stairs, which was presumably a closet, and pulled out a pair of turquoise sneakers, which she pulled on. She started for the front door, tugging it open. She looked back, one foot out the door, when Sasuke didn't move.  
"Hey, c'mon! I have to get back to school, and I think you have to get ready, so let's go."  
Sasuke was startled out of his reverie.  
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry."  
He got up and walked out the door. Acacia surveyed the room, and noticed that one of the photographs was slightly out of place, which bothered her, and she didn't know why.  
"Hang on a sec," she called to Sasuke as she walked back inside. When she reached the shelf, she froze. _Crap, _ she thought. _ I.. didn't realize that this was still out..._ She shuddered, staring at the picture for a minute, then hastily slammed it inside a drawer. She took a few shaky breaths, steadied herself, and left the house, locking the door behind her.  
Sasuke gave her an inquisitive look as she got in the car.  
"What're you looking at?" she snapped.  
Sasuke was thrown off-kilter.  
"N-n-nothing," he stammered, then put the car in drive. The ride back to his house was spent in stony silence.  
_What the hell happened in there? _ he wondered. Was it his imagination, or did Acacia look a little... _afraid_?

* * *

footnotes:

1: Matryoshka dolls are those Russian nesting dolls where it's like one doll inside anoother inside another inside another. You know, doll-ception, right? :D

2: Big Bang is a K-pop (Korean pop) group of five guys. They're pretty cool. I like their song "Fantastic Baby."


	15. Chapter 15

After Acacia and Sasuke went to school, they threatened Orochimaru with the photos and gave him an ultimatum about handing out detentions. His face twisted like he had tasted something sour whenever he looked at them anytime afterwards, but he kept his promise. However, Acacia and Sasuke became somewhat aloof with each other, Acacia not hanging out with him anymore, and Sasuke regaining his usual cold, indifferent demeanor. Acacia became friends with Sakura, ironically, and more ironically, with Gaara as well. Acacia could also be found to be a source of small, anonymous pranks around the school in the next couple of months, if anyone actually cared.

Nobody really did care about harmless pranks though, because Acacia shone in several classes. She was a recent pet of Kakashi's, after writing a stunning essay that reduced him to tears, and which he submitted into an essay contest. They were still awaiting the results.

Acacia had discovered a group of people who enjoyed K-pop as much as she did, and together, they formed a dance group, and would be performing at the school festival. Sasuke knew that Gaara also happened to be in it, but that was it. Everybody was looking forward to the festival next week. Well, of course, everyone except Sasuke. He never did like school events.

The day of the festival dawned bright and early. Different classes did different things, and ran little shops, and put on plays. Acacia's French class did the song "La France des Couleurs" by Idir for their act, which also included Sasuke,. who was just a backup dancer. Acacia, Sakura, Ino, NAruto, and Kiba got the lead singing parts, and everybody was wowed. Sasuke didn't really care, that much, past being irritated about the on-stage chemistry that Acacia had with Kiba and Naruto. He spent the rest of the day in his regular sullen mood, and at the end of the day, made his way grudgingly to the main auditorium for the final performances.

The first few acts, he had to agree, were pretty lame. And then Acacia and her gang trooped onstage, in shades of black, grey, and white, each pair having its own type of color accents. Sasuke's chest tightened as he saw Acacia and Gaara, wearing red color accents, hers in the form of a mesh glove on one arm, his in the form of a red hat. The music started, with "Mr. Simple" by Super Junior. Sasuke walked, something in his chest growling in frustration, as Acacia body-rolled off Gaara and started dancing, and then as the guys did part of a dance. When they did "The Boys" by Girl's Generation, Sasuke was both seduced by the movements of the girls, especially Acacia's, and then infuriated as Gaara swagged around her from the back as she was rolling her hips. He was slightly better whent he girl's did "I Am The Best" by 2NE1, becuase Acacia totally rocked solo dance moves, and the effect was pretty cool. But he was sent over the edge by the end of "Gangnam Style" as the girls were doing the whole "sexy lady" thing, and wearing heels and all, and they jumped up into the arms of their partners.

The monster in Sasuke's heart burst into flames and went on a rampage inside him as he simply glared. He watched Acacia and Gaara, and the other people in K-pop talking and laughing. Acacia hhad her arm slung around Gaara's shoulders, and his was around her waist, ever so casually, but it was still brutal for him. Sasuke's heart itself caught fire and started falling to ashes. About fifteen minutes later, he was distracted by Shikamaru, who had Ino hanging on him and giggling.

"yo, Sasuke, we're all going out for some drinks and shit, you wanna go?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to say no, and then swallowed it back down. Hey, why shouldn't he go, the girl he liked was totally ignoring him, and hanging all over some other guy, and he'd been really stressed, and all, so...

"Sure, what the hell."

"Seriously."

"Trust me, there's nothing I'd rather do more right now."


	16. Chapter 16

As situational irony would have it, it turned out that Acacia was part of the group that was going out partying. Therefore, instead of actually attempting to enjoy himself, Sasuke watched Acacia resentfully over the rim of his glass as she and the others laughed and talked. His silent fuming was interrupted by a certain blond boy.  
"Hey Sasuke, come join the fun!"  
Sasuke didn't even glance at Naruto.  
"No, you dobe."  
"C'mon, teme, we're playing Truth or Dare. It'll be fun." When Sasuke shook his head again, Naruto added, "Acacia's playing."  
Sasuke sighed.  
"Fine."  
He followed the blond over to the large circle of people.  
"Okay, okay," crowed Naruto as they joined the large circle. "I get to pick the first person!"  
Everybody rolled their eyes and chuckled, knowing exactly who Naruto would pick.  
"Truth or Dare, Sakura?"  
Sakura glared at Naruto.  
"Truth."  
"Cool. So, let's see… Tell the truth: would you rather date Chouji or me?"  
They all snorted with laughter.  
"Honestly, Naruto, I'd probably pick Chouji, because at least he's not a hyperactive dobe like you."  
"Oh, burrn!"  
"Sorry Naruto!"  
"Really thought you had it this time!"  
"Oh well."  
Sakura cut them off.  
"Okay, my turn! Hinata, truth or dare?"  
Hinata whispered very quietly, "umm… dare?"  
Most of them were surprised that Hinata would take a dare.  
"Ok, then. Hinata, I dare you to tell Naruto how you feel about him."  
"W—what?"  
Naruto was totally clueless.  
"Huh? How she feels about me?"  
Hinata was blushing furiously at this point, and when Naruto gave her his same, clueless look, she turned and ran.  
"Dude, is she alright?"  
"Oh well, I guess that's a bust."  
"Nice job, Sakura."  
Sakura frowned.  
Sasuke sighed to himself and took another swig of his drinkl. He watched, morosely, as the truths and dares got crazier and crazier, given to the increased drunkenness of the participants. However, a few held their liquor well, and Sasuke noticed that Acacia was one of them...  
"Yo, Sasuke, Truth or Dare?"  
He looked up.  
"What? huh?"  
"Truth or Dare?" repeated Neji.  
"Oh, uh... um.. truth, I guess."  
"Ok, then. So, Sasuke, tell the truth, who do you think is the hottest girl here?"  
Sasuke froze, and then eventually muttered something barely audible that ended with an a.  
"What was that?"  
"...Acacia..."  
"What?"  
"Acacia, all right? Now will you please leave me alone?"  
"Oooh," chorused everybody, except for Sakura, who seemed torn between depression and extreme anger. Sasuke glanced at Acacia, who had an eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face.  
"Alright, my turn next," said Tenten. "Truth or Dare, Acacia?"  
Acacia grinned devilishly.  
"Dare, of course."  
Tenten grinned and looked at the majority of the others sharing a knowing look with them.  
"Ok, Acacia. I dare you to kiss..." She beamed. "_Sasuke_."  
Sasuke nearly choked on his drink. Wait. Acacia was going to.. to... but, there's no way... he thought. I'm either way too drunk, or at least, not hearing correctly. But then he heard Acacia say, "awesome," and when he looked up, she was standing in front of him. He flushed. No way.. I must be dreaming... But if it was a dream, then he didn't really want to wake up... because right now, she was slipping onto his lap.**  
**

"Hey, she whispered, smiling.

"Um.. hi." He gulped. _This is isn't happening, this isn't happening.._

"Relax," murmured Acacia.

And then, as Sasuke's heart thumped, she closed the distance between them. Their lips met, and Acacia's hand caressed his face, her fingers twined in his hair. Sasuke's first reaction was to freeze. And then he thawed instantly, taken in by the heat of the moment, responding eagerly to Acacia's advances, in more than one way. Yes, there was a lump rising slowly in Sasuke's pants as Acacia slipped her tongue into his mouth and prodded his. Their lips moved in perfect synchronization, and tingles of electricity ran up and down Sasuke's spine.

"Whooaaa, you go AK-47!"

Several people wolf-whistled. Sasuke ignored them, but Acacia gave a thumbs up behind her back.

Sasuke could not, however, hide his arousal from Acacia for very long, and when she felt it, she pulled away and stood up, giving him a knowing smirk. He watched, dazed as she strutted confidently back to her spot in the circle. He finally cleared his head enough to be able to tell that Sakura was glaring daggers at both him and Acacia alternately, mingled despair and anger on her face. People started getting up and dancing, Acacia among them. Sasuke stared, emotionally confused and somewhat hurt, as she started dancing with Kiba. That would have been fine, if it hadn't actually been all touchy-feely, skin-to-skin, gyrating dancing. Sasuke felt jealousy and anger bubble up in his stomach, fueling the monster in his soul. His heart was torn up and shredded as he watched Acacia flirting. He started drinking more, which he probably figured wasn't the greatest idea, as he couldn't really handle a lot of alcohol very well, but he didn't give a damn. His parents were out of town, he would be home alone, hell, he could do whatever he wanted. He sank into a bitter stupor.

Around midnight, the party started breaking up. Acacia was about to leave with Ino, whom she had planned to spend the night with, when she noticed Sasuke sitting at a table with a near-empty glass of alcohol next to him, his head in his hands. She sighed.

"Hey Ino, I think I'll have to pass tonight. Maybe next week?"

"Sure. Bye Acacia!"

"Bye." She approached Sasuke and gently shook him. "Hey, Sasuke, snap out of it."

He looked up at her, with red-rimmed eyes.

"the fuck you want, bitch?"

Acacia groaned.

"Alright, you're obviously way too drunk right now. I think you drank even more than I did." She sighed. "Okay, let's get you home."

"whafu-" he passed out, head thunking on the table.

Acacia rolled her eyes and felt in Sasuke's pockets for his keys, then with help from Lee, she dragged him to the car and buckled him into the passenger seat. She climbed into the other side, slamming the door and jamming the key in the ignition. The engine revved ash she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.


	17. Chapter 17

When Acacia pulled up to Sasuke's house, all the lights were off. Somewhat worried about any awkward confrontations with his parents, she unlocked his front door and slipped inside quietly, leaving her shoes in a corner. She tiptoed around the house, using her phone as a light. She found no sign of anyone, luckily. She sighed with relief, relaxing slightly, and walked into Sasuke's room, looking for some clean clothes for him. Then she heard a car door slam outside. _Crap, I just jinxed it..._ Acacia turned frantically, looking for a place to hide and trying to figure out a plausible explanation that she could give if they found her. She was so busy thinking that she didn't hear the footsteps that were coming closer every second.

She turned to leave and came face to face with Sasuke. She shrieked.

"Oh... It's, just you..." He didn't reply, merely smirked at her drunkenly. "Um.. Sasuke, are you all right?"

This time, he actually answered.

"Oh, totally, babe, I'm completely _fine_."

"Ok, that's good to—wait. Did you just call me... 'babe'?"

"Damn straight."

Acacia realized that she was slowly being pushed backwards toward the bed as Sasuke advanced. She was beginning to doubt that she could get out of this unscathed. She decided to try to talk some sense into him.

"Sasuke, I don't think you're thinking very clearly…" She felt her legs bump into the bed. "Uh, why don't we sit down, and try to talk this out?"

"Talk it out? You've had two months to 'talk it out' with me. What are you playing at?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh give me a fucking break, Acacia! What is it with you?! You come here, you act like you like me, make me think… and then… what, you just decide to go for two months without talking to me, and flirt with a shitload of guys? Why?"

Acacia was stunned speechless. She dropped onto the bed and sat there, looking at him with sheer amazement. She'd never realized that he was this sensitive. He ran his hands through his hair, getting his thoughts together, before continuing.

"And then you just come up to me tonight, with the fucking Truth or Dare thing, and you kiss me like that and you act like you really mean it, and you really want… and then, you just go screwing around with a bunch of other guys! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Sasuke, I…"

He glared balefully at her.

"You what?! What could you possibly have to say?!" He sighed. "Acacia, I…. love you… Why are you treating me like this?"

"Sasuke, I…"

"Why?!"

Acacia burst into defiantly sorrowful tears.

"Because I was afraid!"

"Afraid of what?!"

She didn't answer, instead drawing her knees up to her chest and rocking back and forth.

"Acacia, what are you afraid of?!"

She blinked at him, her face suddenly childlike and vulnerable.

"You… you saw… the picture… You… picked it up… I knew you would have been wondering about it… But… I just… couldn't… tell you…"

Sasuke's anger drained from him as he surveyed Acacia in this broken, frightened state. His voice became softer.

"Tell me… about… what?"

She sniffed, and continued rocking, faster now, eyes wide with some kind of reminiscent horror.

"About… her…"

Sasuke's mind pinged, even in his muddled, drunken state. He recalled that second day of school when he had taken Acacia to her brother, and she had told him "she can't hurt you." He had wondered who "she" was. _Is she… going to tell me?_ Sasuke was curious, and proceeded with much more tact now; well, as much tact as he could manage drunk. He sat down on the bed next to her and patted her on the back carefully.

"Acacia… who is she?"

But in his mind, he was already remembering the one missing head in the photo, and he suspected who that person might have been. Acacia gulped. Her voice came out as a whisper.

"She's… she is… my… younger sister… _Rin._"

She shuddered at the name, and Sasuke wrapped his arms around her protectively, trying to ignore the other thoughts in his head that were completely inappropriate, especially under the circumstances. Acacia whimpered and started crying.

"Shh…" he whispered, stroking her hair, feeling an awful lot like a big brother, which wasn't exactly what he had hoped for at all with her, but… that was alright for now, he guessed.

Acacia slowly quieted.

"Sasuke…"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, this is really hard for me… I've... not talked about this with friends or anyone else in depth before…"

"Understandable.."

She took a deep breath.

"Sasuke… Rin is… My parents… Oh, I don't know where I should start… Okay, I guess I'll just start with… something.. simpler…"

Sasuke waited patiently for her to go on.

"I guess you may have realized that my parents aren't really around that often… or… maybe you haven't, but… I'll just tell you anyway." She chuckled nervously. "Look at me, I'm... so nervous... aha… Anyway… my parents…. are dead. Rin murdered them in their beds two years ago."


	18. Chapter 18

Sasuke gaped at Acacia, who was currently in a trance like that of a hypnotist's patient. her eyes were vacant, focusing on something that only she could see. In fact, in her mind, the whole scene from that night two years ago was playing back in her head. Her voice was hollow.

"Everything was fine that night. Mina, my older sister... she was away at college.. We'd all gone to bed. It was about midnight...? I woke up, because I heard Rin singing one of those songs we used to sing when we played games as little kids and. It was damn creepy... She was 13 then, and she was always kind of weird, so I wrote it off as nothing... but half an hour later, she was still singing, and I decided to go and tell her to shut up and go back to sleep. There was a light on under our parents' door, and Rin's room was empty, so I peeked under the door, and I saw a pair of feet with something on them, and I couldn't tell, but her voice was coming from in there, so I opened the door and... and... and.." Her voice caught and she trembled, and Sasuke squeezed her hand tightly. "She was sitting on the bed, and there was blood everywhere, and our parents... Our parents... she'd stabbed them over and over and over and painted their faces with their blood... and she was just sitting there, singing, blood in her white hair, and all over her nightgown, and she was swinging the knife back and forth... She looked up and smiled at me, and she said, '_I made them pretty, onee-san... Let me make you pretty too!'_ and then she came at me with the knife, and I screamed and started running, and I grabbed a phone and called the police, when I realized she wasn't following me anymore... And then I remembered Roku.

"I ran back to his room and she was standing over him and he was screaming and she was about to kill him... she turned around when she heard me and this time, she was so evil, and I yelled at Roku to run and he did, and then I tried to fight Rin back... She stabbed me in my arm and one leg and it hurt so bad, and then I managed to kick her and hobble away to Roku, who was staring at our parents and crying his eyes out and screaming.. I grabbed him and pulled him downstairs with me, and then I got to the main entrance and I had Roku in front of me and I was trying to open the door when she stabbed me in the shoulder, and it hurt so bad, and then the police came and took her away and we went to the hospital..."

She started crying right now.. and Sasuke recalled that he'd never seen Acacia's back before, only her front, and what a lovely front it was too... But now wasn't the time.

"And after I got well enough, they had the trial, and she was released on the grounds of being not guilty because she was psychotic and insane, but they committed her to an asylum... And I never saw her... Mina came home to take care of Roku and I, and she even transferred schools... but even though life went on, it wasn't the same... I just couldn't be around all those people who knew everything that had happened and kept trying to comfort me, and Roku couldn't either, and he hasn't talked since then, and all... And then my grades started slipping, and I think Mina started to realize what was wrong, and since she had a great job working from home, she moved us to Konoha, and then I met you guys. And I realized that you liked me, Sasuke, and... It made me feel something real, instead of all the fake stuff I was showing everybody else... But then you saw the picture, and I knew you were curious, but I just couldn't tell you, because I didn't think I could handle it... but now that I've told you everything, I guess it's for the better, huh?"

"I guess," murmured Sasuke into her hair, rubbing her back gently, and she curled into him like a little child. They fell asleep like that a few hours later.


	19. Chapter 19

Sasuke awoke with a terrible headache, which he supposed served him right for drinking so much the night before. _Agh, won't be doing that again for a while,_ he thought. Moving slowly, he turned his head to the left, somewhat surprised to find Acacia nestled close to him, but as his brain became more awake, he started remembering the events of last night, though most of them were muddled and confused. He slid out of bed quietly so as not to wake the sleeping girl next to him.

The hot water did wonders for him, clearing his head and easing his headache. He ruminated on everything Acacia had told him the night before and mentally forgave her for everything that he had previously accused her of. He was stepping out of the shower when a bleary-eyed Acacia walked in, rubbing her eyes.

"EHMEGERD!" she shrieked, her face turning red. Sasuke's face, likewise, did the same. She backed slowly out the door, closing it. "I'll just.. be out here..."

Sasuke heard a thud as Acacia fell back against the door on the other side, sliding down to the bottom.

_Holy shit..._ she thought... _That was... BIG..._ _and he wasn't even... all the way..._ She shook her head vigorously and changed into her extra clothes. Sasuke walked out of the bathroom, shirtless, as she was pulling on her shorts.

"Hey," she said awkwardly.

"Hey."

They had an awkward breakfast, and Sasuke gulped down some pain-reliever with a glass of water. They sat and stared at each other across the table.

"Soooo..." he said. "What would you like to do today, Acacia?"

She shrugged.

"Well, it is officially summer break, and we actually didn't get that much homework, so, there are lots of possibilities... What were you thinking of?"

Sasuke almost colored. _Well, I could think of a few things I'd like to be doing with you right now,_he thought, _but I don't know if you'd agree..._ He played it cool.

"Well, we could... I don't know, go swimming?"

"Seriously? I hate public pools."

"Maybe the beach?"

"Meh..."

He sighed.

"Well what, then?"

"Well, you have a nice little sun room by the backyard, I noticed.. Maybe, we could just... i dunno, relax and read?"

"You like to read over the summer?"

"Totally... Or, we could watch a movie or something. But I don't really feel like going out today, so... yeah."

"Ah. So, let's watch a movie then."

"Cool."

They ended up watching two movies that Sasuke might not have watched normally on a regular basis, but which Acacia particularly liked. The first movie? _Black Swan._ Sasuke actually found it somewhat interesting, and had to admit that he was somewhat surprised Acacia was watching this movie with him, considering the number of erotic-y scenes and the disturbing mental descent of the main character. To tell the truth, he was getting somewhat turned on by it. Not only that, but Acacia was sprawled across the couch with one foot in Sasuke's lap, the other dangling off the side of the couch. Her toes kept brushing over a _sensitive_ region. That, combined with the movie, was causing him to be slowly aroused.

Acacia could feel him hardening under her gentle touch, and hid a grin. She stopped for a while until the movie ended. Sasuke was, admittedly, kind of sad about the loss of attention. But then Acacia put in the next movie, _Love and Other Drugs_. There was no denying that he was turned on. Acacia didn't even have to feel him to know that he had a raging hard-on. It was quite visible. Sasuke, somehow, managed to restrain himself from rubbing his erection or touching it in any way, knowing it could lead to a problem. Acacia started brushing him with her toes again and he audibly moaned. She grinned and looked at him.

"You like that, don't you?"

Sasuke blushed, and stammered.

"Uh, yes.. I mean n-n-no. I mean- maybe?"

"Oh, it's totally cool if you like it, Sasuke," She said seductively, moving closer to him.

_Sooo close…_ thought Sasuke.

"um, really?"

"Yeah."

She kissed him hard, her fingers moving downwards...


	20. Chapter 20

Lust took over at that point, as Acacia took about six inches, or three-quarters, of Sasuke's member into her mouth, deep-throating him. Sasuke enjoyed the sensation for a few minutes, until she lifted her head.

"Sorrym" she said apologetically, "I don't want to gag on it. That was nice though."

She climbed into his lap and kissed him, but as his fingers reached for the hem of her shirt, she stopped him.

"I think we should _probably_ go somewhere else, in case we leave any… stains…" She winked at him, and he lifted her, still kissing her, and carried her upstairs, leaving a trail of clothes behind. He deposited her on the bed, kissing her fiercely down her neck and down farther, as well. She flipped him over when she knew that she was dancing on the brink of a mini-orgasm. She crawled upwards and leaned over him.

"You ready for this AK-47 to shoot you up?" she murmured.

"Hell, yes," he whispered back.

Acacia smiled, nipped his ear, and sat up. Sasuke watched her with fascination as she readied herself to do the thing he had dreamed of for two months. Acacia positioned herself over his cock, which stood at attention, then without a moment's hesitation, she dropped, his member burying itself neatly inside her. Both of them gasped at the sensation. Sasuke's hips bucked involuntarily, and he cried out.

"Hot damn, Acacia!"

This seemed to bring Acacia back to herself.

"Steady now," she intoned, as she lifted herself almost all the way off, before slamming back down again. "Ahhhh," she moaned, "feels so... good... you're so big…ahhh.."

She gradually developed a steady rhythm, and now the main sounds were those of their heavy breathing. Sasuke felt like he was in heaven, like it was all a dream. And in a little part of his mind, he wondered if it was just that. But if it was a dream, then hell, he was going to take advantage of the situation while he could. He sat up, pushing Acacia down on her back. She grinned breathlessly at him as he lifted her legs, letting her wrap them around him.

Sasuke took a breath, then powered himself deep into her.

"Ah, fuck!" she cried.

He smirked to himself and started fucking her faster than they were going before. Heavy breathing became breathless panting, interspersed with the occasional "fuck yes" or "right there," and cooing from Acacia, and moans and cries from them both.

After about seven minutes, Sasuke slowed down, pausing for a minute to revel in the feeling of her tight walls squeezing all eight inches of him. He noticed that Acacia seemed close to the edge, so he decided to really play with her. Slowly, ever so slowly, he pulled out, until just the tip of his cock was still inside her. She squeaked indignantly, a squeak being all she could manage. And then he pushed back in, even more slowly. After two more repetitions of this, Acacia was practically squirming in ecstasy clearly approaching a climax, and Sasuke had to admit that he was too.

His balls tightened, and his member started twitching.

"Acacia…" he moaned, sliding in and out of her a few more times until he could barely stand it. "I'm… going….to… cum…"

"I know," she gasped. "Same here… So close…"

Even as her walls clenched around his shaft, Sasuke pulled out, and just as Acacia cried out in releae, so did he, firing several loads of his semen across her body. Acacia's orgasm went on longer however, and Sasuke, exhausted, waited patiently for it to end.

He collapsed next to her, and they lay there for a while. Acacia glanced up at him, ran her finger through a little drip of his cum, and then licked it clean. She winked, and for some reason, they both started laughing. Acacia rolled onto her back.

"Sasuke?"

"Yeah?"

"That was… amazing…"

"It was, wasn't it?"

"So.. Umm... Does this mean that..."

Sasuke rolled over and kissed her.

"Acacia, will you be my girlfriend?"

She grinned at him.

"Of course."


	21. Chapter 21

"You wanna know a secret?" asked Sasuke lazily as he and Acacia lay back in the bed.

"Sure, what?"

He looked at her.

"That was my first time."

She spluttered.

"What?! No way."

He grinned sheepishly.

"Yes way."

"But.. a guy like you.. you must have gotten laid before. That's impossible!"

He squinted at her.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you being so attractive and all and with the girls fawning over you and everything.."

"Well, that kind of makes me less attracted to girls when they do that."

"Ah. So.. if you've never had sex before, how could you have been so good just now..." she trailed off, and a look of dawning realization spread across her face. "Aha. Porn. AM I right?"

Sasuke blushed now, and nodded.

"It's cool." She snuggled into him. "So, what type of porn?"

He jerked upright.

"Acacia!"

"Whaaat?! C'mon, teme, tell me!"

Suddenly, seeing an expression on Acacia's face that practically mirrored the one Naruto always wore, Sasuke burst out laughing.

"All in good time."

"Bakaaa."

But Acacia grinned, and Sasuke knew all was forgiven.

"What time is it?"

"Uh, 2:10 P.M. Why?"

"Shit! I have to get home."

She jumped out of bed and grabbed her things from the corner of the room where they were sitting, and ran out of his room and down the stairs, pulling on her clothes as she picked them up. By the time that Sasuke had gotten his pants on and was pulling a shirt over his head as he ran down the stairs, she was already outside by his by car, bouncing on her tiptoes. He picked up his keys, locked the door, and got into the car. The engine revved and they drove off.

* * *

When they pulled up to Acacia's house, she gave Sasuke a quick peck on the cheek and leaped out of the car and up to her front door, scrambling to unlock it. She didn't need to, however, as it was opened by a girl who he guessed was her older sister. They waved, and he waved back and drove off.

The two sisters walked into the house, Mina shutting the door behind them. She folded her arms.

"You're back late."

Acacia flushed.

"I know, I know, but I can explain, I-"

Mina cut her off.

"I know that wasn't Ino who just dropped you off. In fact, she called last night to tell me that you had driven a drunk friend home. She said his name was Sasuke?"

If Acacia hadn't been blushing and staring at the floor, she would have realized that her sister was amused, but as it was, she didn't.

"I'm sorry, ane, I-"

"What have you been doing imoto? You look like you just had sex." She sniffed. "Smell like it too."

Acacia looked up, ready to beg for mercy, when she realized that Mina was straight-out grinning.

"ANE!"

"What? It's cool, I was like that when i was your age too. So, was it fun?"

"Ane..."

"Just kidding. Are you two going out now then, you and Sasuke?"

"Yeah, we are."

Mina smiled, happy her sister was finally in a relationship again.

"I'm glad. Does he... know about the whole thing with.."

"A tense silence filled the air at the hint of the subject that was never to be spoken of around Roku.

"Yeah, he knows. And I think he actually understands too."

"Good. I hope it won't turn out like with Kil-Whan, though."

Acacia's eyes clouded over at the mention of that particular part of her recent past. Handsome Jung Kil-Whan, her Korean ex-boyfriend, who had once understood her so well. They had met at a Big Bang concert (even though he had gone to her school they had never talked before) and clicked instantly. It was like they understood each other perfectly. He was the one who had taught her Korean. They had dated for about two years, but after the incident with Rin... They had grown distant, or rather, she supposed she had. She was no longer the same as she was before, and even though Kil-Whan had tried to understand and comfort her, she realized how hard it must be for him. So, it was with a tearful goodbye that they broke up. The look on his face after it happened would forever be in her mind. She had underestimated his feelings, had not realized how much he loved her. It tore at her heart, only realizing this later when she had isolated herself.

She used to cry about it sometimes, but she had tried to forget... she had forgotten. Until now. And then his face swam in her mind, and shook her head to clear it.

"Yeah," she mumbled distractedly. "Um, I think I'm gonna take a shower now, kay?"

"Okay."

Mina watched as her sister walked slowly up the stairs, deep in thought.

* * *

In the shower, Acacia simply stood there as hot water streamed down her body, leaving light red trails. Her mind was spinning as thought about her old boyfriend for the first time in months. She remembered, with a melancholy smile, all the times they'd had together. Her mind flashed back to their first time having sex, which was actually the first time for both of them. They had been so awkward, amateurs, and had laughed about it afterwards. Everything had been so right.

She remembered how whenever she'd start talking about how hot T.O.P. from Big Bang was, he'd pout and start talking about a chick from SNSD Girl's Generation. And then they'd laugh. Or all the other times that they cracked up as well. And the time when she hinted at wanting flowers and candy for Valentine's Day, and he gave her a piece of chocolate and one cherry blossom, and then surprised her with a really nice romantic dinner that night. And her birthday, when they'd gone to a really huge concert, or when they'd gone on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Korea to visit his family.

_But, why am I thinking about Kil-Whan now?_ thought Acacia. _He probably wouldn't like me anymore, or want to be friends. And besides, I have Sasuke now. So... why?_


	22. Chapter 22

Acacia found her mind stuck on Kil-Whan for the rest of the day. _Thanks a lot, onee-chan_, she thought bitterly. She tried to distract herself by thinking of Sasuke, but for some reason, it wasn't his face that kept popping into her head, but that of a certain other boy with short, blue-streaked black hair. His wry grin haunted her thoughts and she went to sleep troubled and confused. Thoughts of Kil-Whan had invaded her dreams too. For the next few days, she stayed at home, watching her little brother while her sister was at work, texting Sasuke, surfing the web, doing summer homework, and trying to avoid any thing that would maker her think about late Saturday morning to her phone ringing, Sasuke's picture flashing on the screen. She smiled to herself and hit the answer button, all thoughts of Kil-Whan flying from her mind.

"Hey, love."

"Hey."

There was the hint of a smile in Sasuke's voice, something that had originally been a rarity with him.

"So, what's up?"

"Oh, um... I was wondering... if.. you..."

Acacia smiled to herself. He sounded so awkward.

"What?"

"Wanna hang out?"

"Sure. Where?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could go... somewhere?"

She laughed.

"Sasuke, you don't go out much, so you?"

"Yeah, I do!"

"Like, where?"

She could practically hear him blushing.

"Well, um, you know, the mall, the library... Mainly, the library."

"Hang on. I'll meet you at your house. We need to seriously talk about this."

He laughed.

"Okay, bye."

"Bye!"

* * *

Acacia showed up at Sasuke's house about an hour later. She parked her scooter and walked up to the door, knocking. A man she'd never met before who looked to be in his early twenties answered the door. He looked a bit like Sasuke, so she assumed he must be related to him. He had long hair that was tied back in a low ponytail, and an earring in one ear. He surveyed Acacia and leered somewhat.

"Can I help you, _little girl?"_

His voice was lascivious and had a hint of perversion.

"Um, I'm here for Sasuke? My name's Acacia Takai."

She held out her hand, and he shook it, almost _caressing_ her hand.

"Pleased to meet you, miss."

"Umm, ok..."

"Please, come inside."

He grinned, and stood aside as she walked through the door, his eyes zeroing in one her butt as she walked. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered her, but he was creepy. Sasuke's mother walked around the corner and smiled at Acacia.

"Good morning, Acacia-san! Sasuke will be ready in a few minutes. Please, take seat." she looked at the man. "This is Itachi. He's Sasuke's brother."

Acacia sat gingerly on a chair. Itachi was still grinning at her.

"So, how do you know Sasuke?"

"Umm, school?"

"Ah. You must know him pretty well then, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess."

She couldn't tell if he knew or not that Sasuke was going out with her.

"hm. You know, I'm surprised. Sasuke usually hides when girls show up."

"Oh does he?"

_Ye gods, Sasuke, _Acacia cried out mentally, _hurry up and save me from you creepy brother._

"Yeah, mainly that one pink-haired girl."

"Ah."

"So, I guess there's something about you that he likes then."

"Sure."

_Hurry up!_

"Must be because of your personality or something, because, I gotta hand it to you, that girl Sakura is hot. Although certainly not as much as you."

Acacia was about to freak out and panic and run out of the house when there were footsteps on the stairs and Sasuke skidded to a stop, pulling on his socks. Inwardly, Acacia breathed a sigh of relief, as he ran his fingers through his hair, embarrassed. He had a barely noticeable smile as he looked at his girlfriend.

"Hey Acacia. Um, I see you've met my brother, Itachi."

"Yeah..."

"Cool. So.. Um, are we going now?"

"I guess so."

She got up and he hugged her. She was aware of Itachi watching them intently.

"I missed you," he whispered in her ear.

She giggled.

"Okay, let's go."

Her hand slipped comfortably into his as he laced his fingers with hers. Itachi smirked.

"I knew it."

Sasuke was blushing now.

"Little Sasu has a girlfriend now! He's all grown up. Nice job, Otōto. She's a real looker."

Both Acacia and Sasuke were blushing like twin strawberries.

"Nīsan-" protested Sasuke.

Itachii grinned.

"I'm just proud of you Sasuke, that's all. And she seems to have more sense than Sakura. Like, a lot."

Acacia decided to step in, as awkward as it might be.

"Umm, Sasuke, I really think we should get going now."

He flushed and turned to her.

"Yeah, I think you're right. Bye, Nīsan."

"Have fun!"

His brother gave him a knowing wink, then looked at Acacia. Acacia practically shuddered as they walked out of the house, feeling Itachi's pervy eyes staring at her like he was trying to use x-ray vision. She immediately felt less tense when they were outside the house. Sasuke grinned sheepishly at her and leaned down to give her a kiss.

"So, um.. that's my brother."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, he's really.. I don't know."

"I was thinking perverted."

"Yeah, something like that. I'm pretty sure he's had sex with Sakura before."

Acacia's eyes widened.

"What?! And she's still going after you?"

"Yeah, I guess. You know, maybe she thinks she'll make me jealous. I don't know. I always thought it was kind of weird."

"Wait, how do you know?"

"Well, I came home one night, and Itachi told me Sakura had dropped by to see me, and that she was pretty disappointed, but then he just grinned and was like, 'But she definitely left _satisfied_' and then I figured something was up. And then there was the other time I came home and I heard noises coming from his room. And when I looked out the window later, it was Sakura. And Ino."

"Daaaang."

"Yeah."

They were silent for a while. Then Acacia kissed him swiftly, grabbed a helmet, and plonked it on his head.

"Okay, let's go!"

"Where?!"

"You'll see."

They got on the scooter, Sasuke wrapped his arms around Acacia, and she turned the key in the ignition. The engine purred to life and they sped off, Acacia laughing with exhilaration.

* * *

Acacia drove for about an hour, enjoying the feeling of freedom and her boyfriend's arms around her waist. Finally, they came to their destination, an extremely large shopping mall. She parked in the garage and they took the elevator up. As Sasuke had never been to this city before, he let himself be dragged along, complacently. Acacia stopped at the entrance to a huge bookstore.

"Ok, here we go."

Sasuke gaped in awe.

"There's so much stuff in here!"

"Yup, I figured you'd like it. I used to come here all the time before I moved."

Sasuke's eyes darted rapidly around the place, drinking in the sight. He seemed at a loss for words. Acacia smiled to herself.

"C'mon, I'll show you around."

They spent the better part of an hour in the bookstore, and left with a large bag full of books. As they walked out, however, something made her stop.

"Acacia?" A familiar voice called out. "Is that really you?"

_No way..._ She internally smacked herself. _How could I have forgotten... _Acacia turned around slowly, coming face to face with an all-too-familiar face with dark chocolate eyes and a quirky grin, topped by a flat brim hat, that said "crayon" in fancy script across the front.

"Kil-Whan?"


	23. Chapter 23

Quite to Acacia's surprise, Kil-Whan pulled her into a very warm, tight hug. Memories and lost sensations began flooding back as Acacia's ex hugged her exactly the way he always used to-exactly like nothing had ever happened, exactly as if they were still together. She found herself hugging him back, unaware of Sasuke's poignantly blank expression. Acacia and Kil-Whan pulled apart.

"Wow," remarked Kil-Whan, holding her at arm's length. "I guess the doctor was right. You look amazing now, _jagiya_. Moving did you a lot of good."

Acacia blushed and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Thanks. Yeah, I've had time to go over a lot of things now."

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment. Suddenly, Acacia became aware of another person standing very close to her. A strong arm gently encircled her waist and she remembered where she was. She turned her head slightly, and found herself knocking into Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke looked straight ahead, motionless.

_Oops,_ thought Acacia. _I didn't realize how awkward this is for Sasuke._ She wrapped an arm around his waist and squeezed him tightly. His rigid body melted, tension escaping. She looked at Kil-Whan.

"Kil-Whan, I'd like to introduce you to Sasuke. He's my_ namja chingu. _She looked at Sasuke and saw his confused expression.

"It means 'boyfriend'" she whispered in his ear. He nodded.

Acacia smiled apologetically at Kil-Whan.

"Um, we came here to get books and stuff."

"Yeah, I... got that."

"I totally forgot that this was where we..."

"Yup. Don't worry, it's cool."

Suddenly, Kil-Whan's face became impassive. Acacia was suddenly reminded of herself during the last leg of their relationship. She understood how Kil-Whan had felt all that time. At that moment, she was seized by the urge to somehow make it up to him.

"Hey," she said brightly. "I have a great idea! Let's grab lunch! We can catch up and stuff!"

Kil-Whan smiled, but it was still veiled. Acacia inwardly frowned, but outwardly she beamed and grabbed Sasuke's hand.

"C'mon, Kil-Whan!"

"Um, I don't know..."

"Please? Please? Pleeeease?"

He sighed.

"Fine. It's hard to say no when a loaded AK-47 is staring you in the face."

She grinned.

"C'mon, we can go to the sushi place! Remember?"

"Yeah... I remember."

He followed her and Sasuke.

* * *

The sushi place was crowded at lunch, so Acacia went to get them on a waiting list, leaving the boys alone. An awkward silence ensued. Sasuke glanced at Kil-Whan, this newfound stranger from his girlfriend's past. Black and blue hair, tall, lean, and with slight definition of muscles on his arms. A dancer, like Acacia. And, as Sasuke guessed (trying to not be jealous), that was probably how he knew Acacia. Acacia, who didn't seem to be coming back soon. He decided to break the ice.

"So, your name's Kil-Whan?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, Kil-Whan Jung, at your service. And your name is Sasuke, right?"

"Yeah. That's me, Sasuke Uchiha."

"Uchiha? Are you related to Fugaku Uchiha?"

"Yeah, he's my father."

"Oh wow. That's cool."

"I guess." Sasuke didn't really like having such an important father. He always found it awkward, like people viewed him differently once they knew. He changed the subject. "So, how do you know Acacia? Were you guys friends back here?"

Kil-Whan's eyes glazed over.

"Actually, she was my girlfriend. We went out for two years."

"She never told me about you."

"Yeah, well I don't blame her."

"Why? What happened? Did you do something to make her hate you?"

"No. She always loved me. It was just that things started to fall apart. It was a few months before she moved to Konoha. She started pulling away from everything and evryone."

"After the murders, right?"

"You know?"

"Yeah. She told me."

"Good. Anyway, I tried so hard to help her and understand her, but she just cloaed up and hid herself away. Eventually, I think she saw that it was hurting me, and she called it off. Then she moved, and I never saw her again. Until now, that is."

"Wow." Sasuke was taken aback. "You really loved her."

"I still do, Sasuke. I knew her for so long before she changed. And she's an amazing girl. I hope you realize how lucky you are."

"Yeah. Trust me, I do. I kind of wish I'd met Acacia before all that crap happened. She sounded awesome."

"She was."

Kil-Whan pulled his phone out and scrolled to a picture. He handed it to Sasuke, who examined it. A beaming, _brunette _Acacia gazed adoringly up at a younger Kil-Whan, who smiled down at her with an incredible amount of warmth. Sasuke scrolled through the pictures and came across a picture of Acacia and Kil-Whan kissing. Jealousy bubbled up inside him. He kept scrolling. It was the last picture that made him empathize with Kil-Whan. Kil-Whan smiled, but he looked strained. Acacia's hair was blue in this photo, and she looked withdrawn, her smile tinged with sadness.

Sasuke handed the phone back.

"I...see."

"Yeah." Kil-Whan sighed. "Look. I still love Acacia, so this is kind of hard right now."

"I understand."

"Just.. promise to love her and be good to her."

"I promise."

"Okay, cool." They sat quietly. "You know, this is really stupid, but for a second when I met you, Sasuke, I almost wanted to punch you in the face."

"Same here. But no hard feelings, right?"

"Right."


End file.
